Right to query essential to probe
Rights bodies should allow the government a recourse in challenging what they peddle to the public
The government has every right to demand that fact-finding bodies being proposed either by the United Nations (UN) and the International Criminal Court take in questions from the government as a precondition to holding a probe on alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK), the Palace said.
During a recent “Straight Talk with
Daily Tribune” online forum, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said rights bodies should allow the government a recourse in challenging what they peddle to the public.
The President earlier invited UN Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to conduct a probe in the country but on condition that she debates with him in public and under oath. Mr. Duterte also said Callamard should expect questions from him.
“We should know. They should also be subjected to questioning, since they always say we found this out. So, we are willing to listen,” according to Panelo.
But he said they should be asked, “Where are the figures, where did the evidence come from, who are those on your list, when did the incident happen, who were involved?”
As expected
“Of course, they would not agree to the condition that they present evidence because they can’t,” Panelo said.
“They needed to get permission from the government to conduct such a probe. When they enter the country, immigration agents can deny their entry. So, a probe would be impossible,” he noted.
The President’s spokesman said the government is not hiding anything from international probers since the administration always releases the facts, which has become an automatic process.
“Isn’t it that in state-owned PTV-4, the government apprises the public on what transpires daily in the war on drugs? The administration also holds constant briefings. Always updated are the numbers of deaths in the campaign, how many were arrested. All these things are documented,” Panelo averred.
He said the political opponents of the administration grab any allegations that can be used to create public doubt on the antinarcotics campaign.
“Definitely, administration foes wanted to spread lies since they have lost the seat of power and they continue to lose in the elections, and the recent surveys show that in contrast, the President has unusually high ratings,” he explained.
Mr. Duterte’s numbers are on the upswing despite the range of allegations thrown at him. “What it means is that the demonizations won’t stick,” Panelo stressed.
False narrative
Rights organizations also need not assist families of alleged EJK victims since government agencies and local human rights groups are more than capable of helping those who claim to be victims of police abuses.
Rights groups have been urging the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate rights violations.
Amnesty International, for instance, claimed Bulacan is the country’s bloodiest killing field with 27 reported incidents of EJK between May 2018 and April 2019.
Panelo said rights groups are “politicizing” the issue by relying on false reports and narratives from critics and detractors of the President.
“The problem is the politicization of the so-called EJK. So there is bias, there is prejudice. We’d rather have our own groups here protective of human rights to help those who feel that there were abuses in the matter of police operations,” Panelo said.
Foreign help not necessary
“They don’t have to help, because the family — we have our own organizations of human rights here. They can always assist them. We have PAO (Public Attorney’s Office), a government agency precisely to help poor litigants. We have the IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines) Free Legal Services, they can always go there,” he added.
The official urged the groups not to denigrate the role of local human rights groups, which have been very active in assisting families of alleged EJK.
“Let our own group assist our own Filipinos. We don’t need them. We have a battery of human rights activist in this country. We don’t need interference from any other human rights groups,” Panelo said.
“They cannot be belittling our own human rights groups here. They have been very busy. They have been very active in helping our countrymen who feel that they have been subject of an abuse coming from whoever,” he added.